Mark Penn Stands for...

Chief strategist and pollster for the Clinton campaign, Mark Penn, met with Columbian officials yesterday to negotiate a free trade deal. The Columbian government hired Penn as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller to secure the passage of the free trade deal.

The only problem... Clinton is strongly opposed to the trade deal supported by the Columbian government and the Bush Administration. Were the story to get play in the mainstream media in Pennsylvania, it could be detrimental to Clinton who touts her opposition to NAFTA in the largely labor-dependent Keystone State despite the record telling a much different story.

The labor unions were up in arms upon hearing the news: "It is just outrageous, it raises questions about the kind of people that would surround her in a Clinton administration," said Greg Tarpinian, executive director of Change to Win, a coalition of seven labor unions that has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama. Mr. Tarpinian went on to call for Mr. Penn to quit the Clinton campaign, and said his group "would write to Sen. Clinton to request his dismissal."

Deputy Communications Director of the Clinton Camp, Phil Singer, went on to play the disassociation game: "She and Mark Penn have not discussed the deal, and Mark was not representing the campaign in the meeting."

Mr. Penn issued his apology Friday afternoon: "The meeting was an error in judgment that will not be repeated and I am sorry for it. The senator's well-known opposition to this trade deal is clear and was not discussed."

Sen. Clinton has not publicly commented on the meeting.

UPDATE (5:23 pm ET): Per CNN, the Colombian government severed ties with Clinton strategist Mark Penn and his public relations firm Saturday, unhappy Penn referred to a recent meeting with the Colombian ambassador as an "error in judgment."

"Mr. Mark Penn, President and CEO of Burson Marsteller, responded to claims by Union representatives who questioned his relationship with the Colombian Government by declaring that it was an 'error in judgment' to meet with his client the Colombian Ambassador on March 31. The Colombian government considers this a lack of respect to Colombians, and finds this response unacceptable," a statement from the Colombian embassy said.